The Fight of our Lives
by MsCrayon
Summary: A near fatal car accident threatens the two most important people in Natsu's life. Can life end before it even begins? Nalu. Slightly AU.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hey everyone!_**

 ** _This will be another chaptered story from me._**

 ** _I actually made an outline for this story a long time ago, but never got around to actually writing it, but since I have time on my hands now, here it is!_**

 ** _It's only a little AU, meaning that it's a bit more modern than the original_**

 ** _Disclamer: I don't own Fairy Tail._**

 ** _Well, off we go!_**

* * *

 ** _The Fight of our Lives: Chapter One_**

"Ms. Dragneel! Ms. Dragneel! Can you hear us!" Dr. Marvell shouted, shining a bright light in her eyes. "If you can hear me, squeeze my hand." She commanded, picking up her limp hand.

"Unresponsive to commands." Dr. Mashima noted, biting his lower lip. "BP is 80/60 pulse rate 60."

"Pupils are fixed and dilated." Dr. Marvell said, slamming the flashlight on the little medical cart next to her. "Breathing is irregular. O2 rate is 80 percent."

"Nothing left for it. We've got to get her intubated. Seven point five E.T tube please. Let's get her paralyzed."

"What does that mean!" the husband asked anxiously, forcing his way in between the nurses crowded around the hospital gurney.

"Mr. Dragneel, we have to stick a tube down your wife's throat to help her breathe and get oxygen in her body and to the baby." The doctor said, looking up into the worried man's eyes. "I'm going to have to ask you to wait in the waiting room. We'll come out and—"

"No! I want to stay! I'm going to stay!" Natsu yelled, as he twisted out the grasp of the nurse who gently pulled him to the door. "I want to—ahh!"

"Mr. Dragneel, are you alright?" Dr. Marvell asked, looking up sharply.

"It's nothing, just a scratch." Natsu said, blood oozing down from his hand-covered forearm down to the tips of his fingers, dripping down to the white tiled floor.

"Scratches don't make puddles on the floor," The doctor snapped, pointing to the pool of blood that was forming on his fingers. "You could get an infection and have severe tissue damage if you don't have that cleaned and stitched."

"But I—"

"Mr. Dragneel," Dr. Mashima said, voice now firm. "We will notify you if your wife's condition changes. Right now, you need to have your arm checked. Now, please go with the nurse, or I will be forced to call security."

Natsu stood there for a minute, looking at his unconscious girl lying on the bed. "Luce, I love you! I'll be back in a minute! I'm still here! I'm not going to leave you." He called out to her as the nurse once again gently pulled him towards the doors and out the room.

"Her blood pressure is dropping fast!" one of the nurses announced. "BP is at 70/60. O2 rate is plummeting. Fetal heart tones are still strong."

"Let's get her intubated and have full flow oxygen ready to be hooked up." Dr. Mashima said, picking up the tube.

"Let's work with getting this bleeding under control and let's get a CAT scan and x-rays ready!" she demanded. "Let's get an idea on what the damage is."

* * *

"So, where were you two headed?"

"We were headed out for dinner and a movie." Natsu sighed, almost inaudibly. "I should have slowed down…we should have stayed at home."

"You can't beat yourself up after the fact. Besides, it's not your fault. You didn't take a drink and hop behind the wheel. You can't hold yourself accountable."

"…and don't forget to take your vitamins every single day. Your body needs that extra nutritional boost."

Natsu looked up and saw a tall, dark haired man in a long doctor's lab coat, talking to a young couple. The girl, about the same age as Lucy, was literally dwarfed by her taller, muscular husband. Both had big smiles on their faces as they took the container of pills, and walked out the hospital, the automatic double doors swinging open in front of them, the bright orange beams of afternoon sunlight covering them as they stepped out, hand in hand.

He recognized the doctor, but his mouth couldn't form the words to call out to him. He just sat there, his arm resting on the small cart with blue sterile draping; oblivious to the nurse cleaning the cut with antiseptic.

"Well, this cut is not as bad as it could be." The nurse said, covering the wound with a sterile bandage. "I'm going to get some liquid stitches; it's better than regular stitches, and it also contains a pain reliever so it won't hurt. Please try to stay still, and don't move your arm. I'll be right back."

He nodded slightly, his mouth still frozen shut. He watched the nurse walk into his line of sight towards the reception desk, walking behind it, and towards a keyboard with a the large flat screen wall monitor. She keyed in a command, spent a few seconds typing in some information, then walked off out of sight.

The dark haired doctor then walked over to the main desk in the middle of the emergency room floor. He looked up at the new information on the monitor. The color slowly drained from his face, as the big double doors finally closed; the soft, orange sunlight now giving way to the harsh, bright fluorescent hospital lighting.

As soon as he finished reading the information, the young physician half jogged half ran around the corner to the trauma room out of sight.

"Okay. Let's get this cut glued together." The nurse said, dropping several small glass tubes full of purple liquid with cotton tops. "After I finish, I'll check on your wife for you."

Natsu nodded somberly.

 ** _To Be Continued..._**

* * *

So, hated it? Loved it? Please let me know!

On another note, this story will be about eight chapters long as I know exactly where I want this story to go. I already have four chapters written down so.

Well, until next time~~


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone!

Here the second installment for 'The Fight of our Lives'

Hope you all like it!

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 ** _The Fight of our Lives: Chapter two._**

"Oh, Mavis," Romeo sobbed, as he pushed the trauma room doors open. "Lucy-nee..."

Dr. Mashima looked up sharply from the chart in his hands. "Dr. Conbolt…"

Romeo quickly stepped to his supervisor, the dark blue of his eyes magnified with tears. "What happened?"

"Drunk driver hit them head on." Dr. Mashima explained, handing him the chart. Threw the mother right through the windshield. Landed on her abdomen. LOC the whole time during transportation. Amniotic sac started leaking."

"Where's her husband? Natsu Dragneel?" Romeo asked, grabbing Lucy's hand, IV tubes sticking from it like large transparent veins.

"You know the patient?" Dr. Mashima asked, arching his eyebrows slightly. "Related?"

"S-she's...like a sister to me." Romeo explained hanging his head, wiping a stray tear from his eye.

"Like a sister?" the elder doctor hummed, eyes closed in thought. "Then it seems only logical that you go speak to Mr. Dragneel and educate him about the current situation. Can you do it?"

"I don't know," Romeo replied, wiping a fresh set of tears from his eyes. "I don't kno—"

"That is not an acceptable answer Dr. Conbolt." Dr. Mashima snapped, voice hard. "Now, I would be lying if I said I knew how you felt. The hurt you must feel must be immeasurable. But you must put your personal feelings behind you and talk to Mr. Dragneel as a doctor. Now, either you go out there and tell Mr. Dragneel about his wife's condition, or you can go back upstairs to the maternity ward. Now, I'll ask again, can you do it?"

"Yes sir." Romeo said, standing up straight and wiping the last few tears from his eyes. "I can do it."

"Alright then." Dr. Mashima sighed, voice returning to its gentle state. "Get a drink of water, gather your thoughts, and meet me by the Conference Room A in two minutes."

"Yes, sir."

"Romeo. I'm sorry, man. If you ever need to talk or anything, I'm here. I plan on seeing this case through personally."

"Thank you, Dr. Mashima—" Romeo said, voice trembling. "I-I really a-a-…"

Dr. Mashima rubbed his student on the back, as he dropped down to his knees by the bed and began sobbing.

"That's it…just let it out…just let it out." He whispered.

* * *

"Here we go." Dr. Mashima sighed, standing outside the Conference room doors with Romeo. "You got your game plan?"

"Yes. Thanks." Romeo said, nervously. "I'm still jittery. Does it ever get any easier?"

"The day when that happens, I'll rip up my diplomas and quite medicine for life." The elder doctor said. "But don't worry, once you open the door and look the relative in the eye, the nerves are slightly relieved. With that being said, I wish you luck, Dr. Conbolt." He said, shaking his hand and walking down the hall.

Romeo took a deep breath and walked through the door.

The conference room was dimly lit, the halogen lights overhead dimmed down to a subdued level. The overhead skylight provided a dazzling view of the nighttime sky, the light of the full moon shining down in the middle of the room. The left and right walls were decorated with colorful pictures of the monuments Magnolia had to offer; while on the back wall were big black Japanese characters with English words underneath it that read:

 _"Respect the old,_ _search for the new_ _."_

Natsu sat on the big blue couch that ran along the back wall underneath the characters. "Romeo, thank Mavis, what's going on, where's Lucy? Is she alright? They didn't tell me anything after they fixed my arm. Tell me, what's going on?"

Romeo sat down in the silver-plated chair next to Natsu; "As you know, Lucy-nee came in with massive injuries to her head, and a hard impact to her stomach as she went through the windshield. The chief doctors from our Obstetrics and emergency room wards see her and check the baby out."

"How about the baby?" Natsu asked softly. "Is the baby alright?"

"The amniotic sack is leaking," Romeo said, twiddling his fingers. "But the ultrasound showed no damage. She is almost full term, and the senior attending on staff says that he feels comfortable that the baby is developed enough for delivery, but she'll still have to stay in the NICU, the 'Newborn Intensive Care Unit' for a couple of days."

"And Lucy?"

Romeo swallowed hard, his dark eyes cast towards the floor. "The doctors did a complete examination on Lucy when she came in: they ran some blood test and took some x-rays. She's on her way to get a CAT scan to check for brain damages; we'll know all the results in a few minutes."

"Romeo, tell me straight, is my wife going to die?"

"She is hooked up to a vent to help her breathe, and to keep oxygen to the baby until delivery. If we took her off the machine, there would be a good chance that she won't be able to breathe on her own."

The Dragon Slayer felt his body go numb as his brain absorbed the information he just heard.

"I-I need t-to see her…" Natsu stuttered, as a fresh stream of tears flushed down his face. "I have to see her…"

Romeo stood up and sat next to Natsu on the couch, patting his back. "She's upstairs getting a CAT scan to check for brain damage, so it's going to take a while. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Contact the others for me at the guild." He replied softly. "They need to be here. You know what, I'm just going t…" He began getting up. "to go inform them-

"No. You sit right here and relax a bit. I'll make sure everyone at the guild is up to speed." Romeo said, slowly standing up. "You just try and get some rest. I'll wake you up when the test results are in and we know more."

Romeo dug in between the cushions on the couch, and pulled up a lever, causing the section of couch where Natsu sat to recline and turn into a small bed with the top cushion serving as a pillow. Natsu still sat up rigid as the back of the chair sank and fell behind him.

"Is there anything else you need?" Romeo asked, hand on doorknob.

"Yes…" Natsu said, his voice barely above a whisper, quivered. "I need my wife…" he wept, burying his head in his hands, his heavy loud sobs echoing through the room. "I…need…my…"

Romeo ran back over and gave Natsu an embrace, resting his head on his shoulder as Natsu's shoulders heaved with each sob. "It's going to be okay, Natsu-nii. It's going to be okay."

In the back of the young doctor's mind, he caught himself thinking, _"I may have just lied to the man I consider a brother."_

* * *

Dr. Mashima studied the image on his computer screen for the thirteenth time that night, periodically keying in another command on the keyboard, changing the three-dimensional view while the fetal heart beat monitor beeped in time with the baby's pulse in the womb.

Joining the chorus was the EKG monitor, it's beeps lower and slower in tone and speed. Along with the steady stream of air breathing through the tubes helping his patient breathe. This concerto of beeping, hissing, lub-dubs, and clicking orchestrated together in the elder doctor's ear and flowed around his brain, subconsciously aware of any off beats, or deviation from this norm.

"What's the verdict?"

Dr. Mashima gave a startled yelp as he spun around in a pair of dark eyes.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh, hey Porlyusica." Dr. Mashima said, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "I needed something to get my eyes off that dang CAT scan print."

"Not looking to good, huh?" Porlyusica said, regarding the prints on the light board. "Looks like blood building up behind the mesenteric artery. Probably a clot."

Dr. Mashima looked at the blonde in shock. "It's a wonder you don't start your internship and residency. You're already one of the best PA's in the hospital."

"Ah, I'm still straddling the fence on that one." Porlyusica said, "I like where I am now. Though, I can be convinced to getting out of the ER and moving upstairs to OB."

"We could use the help. Heaven knows we need someone else up there to help out with some of the minor stuff like pre and post natal exams, ultrasounds, things like that."

"Excuse me, Dr. Mashima?" Romeo said, peeping his head in through the trauma room doors. "I have Mr. Dragneel waiting outside. He wants to see his wife. Can I bring him in?"

"Sure. Prepare him for it before you do. It could be a shock for him." Dr. Mashima sighed, then turned back to Steve. "If you're interested in coming upstairs, just talk it out with your attending, and we'll get you all set up."

"Thanks. I'll go talk to him now." He replied, stepping out the trauma room. "Good luck."

"I'll need it."

* * *

"As I said before, she's currently in a coma. There's a tube in her throat to help her breathe, and there are a lot of IV's in her to get fluids and medications in her and the baby." Romeo explained, as they slowly walked towards the double doors of the trauma room.

"Can she hear me?" Natsu asked the young doctor, as they approached the doors. "Will I be able to talk to her, and she'll hear me?"

"I don't know. But you can try." Romeo replied his palm flat on the metal panel to push the door open. "You ready?"

"Dr. Conbolt, Dr. Conbolt: please report to admissions. Dr. Conbolt, please report to admissions." The PA announced.

"It's probably our friends. I asked them to page me when they got here. I'll let them know exactly what's going on and let them give you some space. You can go right on in. You going to be alright on your own?"

Natsu nodded solemnly. "Yeah. I just have to see her. She's the air that I breathe, man."

"I'll check back on you after a while. Take all the time you need." Romeo sighed, patting Natsu on the back before walking down the hall.

The Dragon Slayer placed his hand on the cold metal doorplate. For a second, he went numb. His head couldn't transfer the force needed to push the door open.

 _"I'm pregnant; I'm going to have a baby!"_

Natsu winced at the memory, causing a stream of tears to flow down his face. He took a deep breath, and finally forced his hand to apply the necessary pressure to open the door.

* * *

"…and she's currently in a coma right now. It's likely that after she delivers, she'll come out of it, but nothing is known until the attending actually delivers the baby."

"Wait a minute: deliver…but Lucy was only eight months…"

"Eight and a half actually, when we double checked with her original doctor. We did ultrasounds and ran tests, and it looks like the baby will be okay after delivery. But he'll probably have to stay in the NICU after birth just to make sure his lungs are mature and everything is okay."

"And Lucy?"

Romeo looked into the eyes of the friends that were gathered in the conference room.

"I don't know. I really don't know. Whatever happens is going to happen in the operating room when the doctors deliver."

"Where's Natsu?" Gray asked quietly, not believing this was really happening.

"He's in there with her. We need to give him some room right now. He really needs this time alone with her."

"Okay. Whatever you think is best, Romeo."

"Well, I think that you guys could use some sleep. Conference rooms three and four right down the hall has some pretty comfortable couches that fold down and pull out into beds. You can take the kids upstairs in the daycare. It's open twenty-four hours. I'll call you if there's any more news."

The group slowly stood up, gathered their baby things, and slowly made their way towards the door, silently.

Erza stood behind, and waited until only he and Romeo were in the room. "Romeo, tell me straight, what are the odds of Lucy pulling through this?"

Romeo gently closed the door. "Speaking logically, the chance that she'll wake up after delivery: five percent. The chance that she'll make a full recovery without brain damage: half that."

Erza closed her eyes and sighed. "Of course, I won't tell the others." He said, opening the door and walking out into the hallway.

 _''_ _Good. Because it was a lie. Her chances are less than three percent.''_

* * *

Natsu sat down by a stool next to Lucy's bedside. He looked at her face; eyes closed, mouth flat with no color in her lips.

He picked up her hand, being careful not to disturb the clear tubing in her hands. He gently fingered the ring on Lucy's finger, the diamond in the middle. He brushed the delicate hand against his cheek, interrupting the stream of tears and trickling down her hand.

He closed his eyes, and allowed his mind to drift…

 ** _To Be Continued..._**

* * *

Going to leave the story hanging here. I know Natsu is not acting like the over-confident and determined guy that he usually is, but the lives of two of the most important people in his life are hanging on a thread so..

Well, see you next time!


End file.
